The (Un)Subtle Art of Staring
by kattythingz
Summary: Three (Two?) times Alphonse Elric caught his brother staring at men, and the one time they talk about it. OR Edward Elric is gay as heck and Al knows all. Hints of Edling.


**The (Un)Subtle Art of Staring**

**A/N: HELLO HELLO! This is my first FMA fanfic, so please take it easy if the characters are OOC. I based this on a little bit of '03 and a little bit of Brotherhood, so I have elements from both versions. I also love Edling, so I **_**had **_**to take the chance to sneak in some of it.**

**Without further ado, please enjoy! And please correct me if I got anything wrong or insulted you, because I'm not sure how discovering your sexuality really works… sorry in advance!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FMA, NO MATTER WHAT VERSION, NOR THE MANGA. THOSE ALL BELONG TO HIROMU ARAKAWA.**

* * *

**1**

The first time Al noticed, he was four years old.

He's always been overly perspective for his age, at least that's what Mom used to say. So, when Ed had returned home one day with a strange air to him, his eyes troubled and his hands quivering, Al knew something was wrong.

Al knew his brother was stubborn and refused to tell him when something was wrong, so Al had resorted to eavesdropping on his conversation with Mom. He wanted to know what was bothering his big brother, and this was the only way he would ever know!

He pressed his little body to the door, pressing his ear to the keyhole.

"-and then they started laughing at me and said that… that-"

"Edward, dear," Mom interrupted softly. "Whatever they said to you, they were wrong."

"How do you know that? I didn't finish what I said."

He heard his mom laugh softly. He imagined she was running her hands through Ed's hair the same way she always did when she was trying to calm him down. "I'm a mom, Ed. Of course, I know. And I can tell from your story what they wanted to say."

Ed was silent for a moment, which was worrying. Ed always had something to say, it was something Mom had been trying to fix since he learned to speak, and now he wasn't doing that. Al frowned thoughtfully. Who hurt his brother?

"It's weird, isn't it?" Ed's voice, usually loud and obnoxious, was now low and meek, as though afraid of what Mom would say.

"No, it's not," Mom responded. Al heard the familiar sound of Mom's skirt rustling, and then a low sob. Was Brother crying?

"What those boys said to you was wrong. It's perfectly normal to like boys, just like how it's normal to like girls."

What? Al frowned thoughtfully. What did she mean by that?

"It is?" Ed asked weakly.

Mom hummed positivity in response. "It is."

Al heard a sniffle that must've come from his brother.

A moment later, Mom said, with a teasing lilt to her voice, "Now, who was this boy that you said was pretty?"

And that's when Al finally understood. Mom had always teased Al when he said he thought Winry was pretty and said it was perfectly normal for boys like him to like girls like Winry.

Was this the same? Did Ed find someone pretty that he liked, too?

Ed spluttered, and Al could _hear_ his embarrassed blush. "Mom!"

Mom laughed. "Sorry, darling. Come now, let's go to the Rockbells. I'm sure Al is eager to see Winry again."

Mom! Al thought with a blush. His blush deepened when he heard Ed laugh, too. What right did he have to laugh at him, too? With a small pout on his face, Al moved to the living room to avoid getting caught.

Oh, well, he thought with a smile as he walked down the familiar path to their neighbors' house, his hand warming in Mom's. He could always ask Ed what Mom was stalking about later.

But he never got to, because just a month later, Mom died.

* * *

**2**

The second time Al noticed was when he was eleven.

Ed and he had just taken down the terrorists on the train. Ed walked out the train, heaving a sigh of relief as he said, "It's times like these that I'm thankful Teacher trained us the way she did."

Al laughed. "Do you really mean that?"

He laughed more when he noticed the way Ed shivered, but he wasn't any better. Leave it to Teacher to make a _suit of armor _shiver in fear.

Ed grinned impishly at him, telling him his own shiver hadn't gone unnoticed. He opened his mouth to say something, probably to tease him, when they heard the terrorist leader chuckle.

They both turned to see three military soldiers standing in front of him, the one in the middle relaxed more than the other two. Al remembered him from when he'd visited them in Resembool. Was he-

"You're Mustang, aren't you?"

Al already knew who he was, so he wasn't as surprised as Ed was (some part of him felt happy about that because Ed is always one step ahead of him. It's a nice change, he thought to himself).

They both jumped when the leader suddenly freed himself from his bonds, jumping at Mustang with a knife. How had he hidden that?

Al wasn't prepared for what happened next. In a display of incredible alchemy, Mustang snapped his fingers and produced a terrifying wave of fire that left the terrorist with painful-looking burns.

Al heard Ed gasp in awe. "Amazing! I've never seen alchemy like that before, how did he do that?"

It was rare that his brother ever held such awe towards someone, but Al agreed with his sentiment. He was vaguely familiar with the art of flame alchemy, but all the books Dad had on it were sadly lacking in information. (He doubted Mom would've let them practice it, anyway).

After a moment of stunned silence (which was quite a feat when it came to his brother), Ed sprinted towards the Lt. Colonel before Al could hold him back. "Brother!"

"You!" Ed yelled. "You knew that would happen, didn't you?"

Lt. Colonel Mustang smirked. "Of course I did. How else would his Generalship have noticed your exploits?"

"Notice… You planned this?!"

Al could hear his brother seething in anger. He sighed. His brother really hated being played, and seldom admits that he's wrong. And Mustang had done exactly that.

Al walked up to Ed, expecting to see anger and annoyance, but what he did not expect to see was a brilliant red blush on his cheeks. He couldn't be _that a_ngry-

Oh.

He looked back at the Lt. Colonel and gave him a once over. He was smirking rather smugly at Brother and was saying something to him, but Al drowned his voice out to take him in.

He supposed the man was relatively handsome, with his black hair and eyes, and his smirk did little to ruin that. Al also couldn't help but notice that man of the women in the vicinity were blushing at him.

When the Lt. Colonel walked towards them, Al expected Ed to snarl or avoid him the same way he did with anyone that got into his personal space, but instead Ed seemed to be frozen as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

When he looked down, Ed was blushing furiously, but not in anger, not anymore.

Yes, Al thinks he understands this time.

* * *

**3**

The third time Al noticed was when he was fourteen.

Ed and he had just picked up the strange Xingese boy. Surprisingly, Ed hadn't said anything aside from complaining about his tendency to "pick up strays".

They talked to the strange boy for a while, which mostly consisted of him and Ed bickering like some old friends. Ed was busy yelling, as usual, so he never really noticed the glint in his eyes, but Al did.

And he didn't like it.

He knew that look. It was the same one Ed donned so often when he, ahem, _stared_. Al never minded that because he knew Ed was self-conscious about his sexuality, but Al _did _mind when people returned those stares.

And that's exactly what the stranger was doing.

Al couldn't address the stare though because soon after he introduced himself he revealed his true goal and sent his companions (bodyguards?) after them.

And while it wasn't anything life-threatening, it still annoyed him that he had wasted their time and left them to clean up the mess he created. So, when Ed hit Ling, Al found he didn't mind for once.

He kind of deserved it. Kind of, because Al had to be the decent one between him and Ed.

After the threats were out of the way, Ed and Ling fell into another round of banter, and now that Ed was relaxed, Al found that, yes, Ed _did_ return the stare.

Ignoring his overprotective urges, he left them to their bickering.

His brother deserved a break every once in a while, and even if he didn't like that Ling was that break, Al let Ed have his moment. After all, Ed rarely had the chance to actually _explore_ this area, despite his staring.

With an exasperated sigh, he picked up a book and ignored them to the best of his ability.

* * *

**+1**

Al was fifteen when Ed finally told him.

Despite having known about this since he was four, Al knew his brother was quite unsure about himself and had only recently come to a decision (thanks to a certain Ling Yao).

"Al, I… about Ling, well, I-"

Al heaved a sigh (He could _feel_ the sigh) and said, "Brother, I've known about this since I was four, cut me some slack here."

Ed stared at him, his mouth gaping in shock. He opened and closed his mouth for a minute before he said, "You- how?"

"Well, first of all, you're not subtle at _all_, Brother," Al grinned (He could _feel his lips_). "Second of all, I eavesdropped on your conversation with Mom."

"You've known since THEN?" Ed asked again.

Did he break his brother? Whoops.

Al took Ed's shocked expression and found that there was also some relief in it. Was he seriously worried that Al would disapprove of something like this? Al actually felt a little insulted.

"Of course," He said instead. "Besides, you and Ling weren't subtle at all, Brother. You could've tried to hide your relationship better, you know. I think even Winry noticed by then."

Ed was still gaping at him.

Finally, Al said, "Brother, I don't really know what you were expecting, but I'm kind of insulted that you thought this would end badly. Who did you take me for?"

"Sorry," Ed finally snapped back to reality. "It's just that, well, people don't tend to be so… accepting about this, and I only recently realized it was exclusive to boys-"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Brother," Al smiled. "You're my brother, I don't care who you like so long as they make you happy. Ling makes you happy, doesn't he?"

Ed blushed at the mention of Ling. "Well, yeah, but he's leaving for Xing, and we've already talked about that but I never really asked you-"

"You don't need my permission to be with the person you love, Brother."

Ed finally let loose a small relieved smile. "You wouldn't mind?"

Al returned the smile. "Of course not! Besides, I know you would never leave before I fully heal, so I still have time to hog you to myself."

Ed laughed loudly at that. "You'll be complaining real soon about that, Al."

"You wouldn't be my brother if I didn't complain about you a little," Al laughed. It felt so good to finally laugh freely like this, like they didn't have any worries in the world.

They shared a grin and laughed a little more, and at that moment, Al knew everything would be okay.

Everything was _finally _okay.


End file.
